Swedish Firms Acquired by Foreigners: A Comparison of Before and After Takeover

Swedish firms acquired by foreigners were considerably larger than the average firms in their industries. They were relatively low in value added per employee at the time of takeover and before, a characteristic we take to indicate relatively low profitability, capital intensity, or efficiency,or some combination of these. However, they had been growing at least as fast as their industries over the longest periods we can measure.The takeovers tended to take place in years when the acquired firms did poorly relative to their industries and also relative to their own past performance with respect to the growth of employment, value of production,and value added. Thus the acquired firms seem to have been weak relative to others in their industries and had particularly suffered during the year in which the takeovers occurred.There were short-term recoveries after takeover from the misfortunes of the takeover year and a return to higher growth rates of employment and output, particularly the former. Over the longer run the acquired firms did not show the same relative employment gains as in the first year or two after takeover but seem to have increased their profitability or efficiency relative to their industries. The industries in which takeovers took place grew more rapidly after the takeovers than total manufacturing although they had grown less rapidly in the years before takeover.

Characteristics of U.S. Manufacturing Companies Investing Abroad and their Choice of Production Locations

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations among characteristics of U.S. firms, their tendency to invest abroad, and their choice of production locations. The larger the firm, and the higher its profitability, capital intensity, technological Intensity, and the skill level ofits labor force, the higher the probability that it was a foreign investor.Some of these factors were largely associated with the industry the firm was in but size, R&D, and profitability were characteristics of investing firms within individual industries.Despite its importance in determining the probability that a firm would invest abroad, size of firm appeared to have no relation to the importance of foreign investment; among firms that invested at all, large firms did not produce a higher proportion of their output abroad than small firms. The concentration of manufacturing abroad in a small number of corn-panies is largely a reflection of the concentration within the United States. The influence of size, we conclude, reflects economies of scale not in production but in investing.We found no evidence that, in general, low-wage U.S. firms tended to invest in low-wage countries or that R&D - intensive firms tended to operate more in countries with highly sophisticated or educated labor. In fact,investors in developing countries, and particularly those in some Southeast Asian countries, tended to be more R&D intensive than investors in developed countries. There was some indication that in industries other than machinery R&D - intensive firms were more inclined than others to license technology, while in the machinery industries, R&D - intensive firms tended to license less:to exploit their technological capital in foreign markets by producing there rather than by licensing.

Views from the coalface: chemo-sensors, sensor networks and the semantic sensor web

Currently millions of sensors are being deployed in sensor networks across the world. These networks generate vast quantities of heterogeneous data across various levels of spatial and temporal granularity. Sensors range from single-point in situ sensors to remote satellite sensors which can cover the globe. The semantic sensor web in principle should allow for the unification of the web with the real-word. In this position paper, we discuss the major challenges to this unification from the perspective of sensor developers (especially chemo-sensors) and integrating sensors data in real-world deployments. These challenges include: (1) identifying the quality of the data; (2) heterogeneity of data sources and data transport methods; (3) integrating data streams from different sources and modalities (esp. contextual information), and (4) pushing intelligence to the sensor level

X-ray tomography, AFM and nanoindentation measurements for recyclability analysis of 316L powders in 3D printing process

Recyclability of the leftover metallic powder within the Additive manufacturing (3D printing) process has been less systematically investigated by the research groups although it is a usual practice in most academic and industrial laboratories to reuse the leftover powders for subsequent printing cycles. A better understanding of these mechanisms will assist in optimizing the number of times the recycled powder can be reused in the process to reduce the powder waste. We have recently focused on characterization of recycled powders left in the powder bed after the powder bed fusion process and evaluated the extent of porosity in the powder particles. X-ray computing tomography technique (XCT) has been used to analyze the concentration of porosity, inclusions and dendrites induced inside the recycled powder particles and compared that to the fresh counterparts. The XCT resolution of 2 m was set to separately scan the powder badges for 3 hours. A roughly 10% more porosity has been calculated in reused powder particles (in at least 10 times reused power). Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to measure the roughness of the surface of powder particles which shows average roughness of 4.29 nm and 5.49 nm for the virgin and recycled powders, respectively. Nanoindentation measurement were also applied on a number of locations of the particles to compare the hardness of the virgin and recycled powders. For example, the recycled powder shows smaller a hardness of 207 GPa and an effective modulus of 9.60 GPa (average values) compared to 237 GPa and 9.87 GPa (average values) for it’s virgin counterpart which can be correlated to porosities created beneath the surface. Nanoindentation was also applied on (micro and nano) polished surface of the particles under a force of 250 N for up to 10 seconds. The stainless Steel 316L powder has been the material under study with the powder particles of average size 50 m which were analyzed using Xradia XCT, Bruker Dimension ICON AFM and Bruker HYSITRON TI Nanoindentation systems. Further investigation is ongoing to correlate the mechanical properties of the manufactured parts to the microstructure and chemical compositions of the virgin and recycled powders

XPS and SEM characterization for powder recycling within 3d printing process

In recent years, recycling the powder leftover within the additive manufacturing process has been attractive for both research, development and industry production. Powder recycling can significantly enhance the sustainability of the manufacturing process, reduce the cost and avoid producing metallic waste as a potential environmental hazard. The first step in reusing the recycled powders in the 3D printing process is to characterize the microstructure and surface quality of the powder for oxidation and impurity analysis. Here, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used for the morphology and surface composition analysis of the 316L powders within the Aconity 3D printer. A new powder collection strategy has been introduced to collect powders from different locations in the powder bed: from the top most and surface of the parts and powder bed after the print terminated, from between the printed parts at different heights. The XPS measurements revealed that oxidation is a common in all the powders compared to virgin powder and more oxidation was detected from the powders collected on the very top of the leftover powder and from surface of the bed. The size of the particles does not change much but larger particles remained at the topmost surface. This finding would help in designing a protocol for collecting the recycled powder from the powder bed and it is suggested to follow a a procedure of collecting powders from the different sections of the powder bed in order to avoid mixing the most and least affected particles

The smart sweatband

Real-time analysis of sweat loss is an exciting prospect for the sports industry. Replacing the fluids and electrolytes lost during exercise is vital to ensure adequate hydration which affects health and performance. We have developed a wearable device to provide immediate feedback to the user regarding the pH level of their sweat. An array of pH indicators are used to create a coloured barcode onto thin layers of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The barcode sensor is flexible and can adapt to the contours of the body easily. It is integrated into a sweat band to be placed on different body regions e.g. forearm, wrist or forehead. A visual colour change is observed depending on the sweat pH, providing immediate physiological information to the athlete or coach during physical exercise. This colour change could also be monitored by cameras which are often already in place for kinematic analysis. We have also developed a wearable microfluidic device to sample and analyse small quantities of sweat. This work follows on from the EU FP6 BIOTEX project

Rocaglates induce gain-of-function alterations to eIF4A and eIF4F

Rocaglates are a diverse family of biologically active molecules that have gained tremendous interest in recent years due to their promising activities in pre-clinical cancer studies. As a result, this family of compounds has been significantly expanded through the development of efficient synthetic schemes. However, it is unknown whether all of the members of the rocaglate family act through similar mechanisms of action. Here, we present a comprehensive study comparing the biological activities of >200 rocaglates to better understand how the presence of different chemical entities influences their biological activities. Through this, we find that most rocaglates preferentially repress the translation of mRNAs containing purine-rich 5' leaders, but certain rocaglates lack this bias in translation repression. We also uncover an aspect of rocaglate mechanism of action in which the pool of translationally active eIF4F is diminished due to the sequestration of the complex onto RNA.P50 GM067041 - NIGMS NIH HHS; R24 GM111625 - NIGMS NIH HHS; R35 GM118173 - NIGMS NIH HHSPublished versio

Hip morphology in elite golfers : asymmetry between lead and trail hips

Aim: During a golf swing, the lead hip (left hip in a right-handed player) rotates rapidly from external to internal rotation, while the opposite occurs in the trail hip. This study assessed the morphology and pathology of golfers’ hips comparing lead and trail hips. Methods: A cohort of elite golfers were invited to undergo MRI of their hips. Hip morphology was evaluated by measuring acetabular depth (pincer shape=negative measure), femoral neck antetorsion (retrotorsion=negative measure) and α angles (cam morphology defined as α angle >55° anteriorly) around the axis of the femoral neck. Consultant musculoskeletal radiologists determined the presence of intra-articular pathology. Results: 55 players (mean age 28 years, 52 left hip lead) underwent MRI. No player had pincer morphology, 2 (3.6%) had femoral retrotorsion and 9 (16%) had cam morphology. 7 trail hips and 2 lead hips had cam morphology (p=0.026). Lead hip femoral neck antetorsion was 16.7° compared with 13.0° in the trail hip (p<0.001). The α angles around the femoral neck were significantly lower in the lead compared with trail hips (p<0.001), with the greatest difference noted in the anterosuperior portion of the head neck junction; 53° vs 58° (p<0.001) and 43° vs 47° (p<0.001). 37% of trail and 16% of lead hips (p=0.038) had labral tears. Conclusions: Golfers’ lead and trail hips have different morphology. This is the first time side-to-side asymmetry of cam prevalence has been reported. The trail hip exhibited a higher prevalence of labral tears

Release from sheep-grazing appears to put some heart back into upland vegetation:A comparison of nutritional properties of plant species in long-term grazing experiments

Rewilding or wilding is a popularised means for enhancing the conservation value of marginal land. In the British uplands, it will involve a reduction, or complete removal, of livestock grazing (sheep), based on the belief that grazing has reduced plant species diversity, the ‘Wet Desert’ hypothesis. The hope is that if livestock is removed, diversity will recover. If true, we hypothesise that the species extirpated/reduced by grazing and then recover on its removal would more nutritious compared to those that persisted. We test this hypothesis at Moor House National Nature Reserve (North‐Pennines), where seven sets of paired plots were established between 1953 and 1967 to compare ungrazed/sheep‐grazed vegetation. Within these plot‐pairs, we compared leaf properties of seven focal species that occurred only, or were present in much greater abundance, in the absence of grazing to those of 10 common species that were common in both grazed and ungrazed vegetation. Each sample was analysed for macro‐nutrients, micro‐nutrients, digestibility, palatability and decomposability. We ranked the species with respect to 22 variables based on effect size derived from Generalised Linear Modelling (GLM) and compared species using a Principal Components Analysis. We also assessed changes in abundance of the focal species through time using GLMs. Our results support the ‘Wet Desert’ hypothesis, that is, that long‐term sheep grazing has selectively removed/reduced species like our focal ones and on recovery, they were more nutritious (macro‐nutrients, some micro‐nutrients) palatable, digestible and decomposable than common species. Measured changes in abundance of the focal species suggest that their recovery will take 10–20 years in blanket bog and 60 years in high‐altitude grasslands. Collectively, these results suggest that sheep grazing has brought about biotic homogenization, and its removal in (re)wilding schemes will reverse this process eventually! The ‘white woolly maggots’ have eaten at least part of the heart out of the highlands/uplands, and it will take some time for recovery

Recyclability of stainless steel (316L) powder within the additive manufacturing process

Using recycled powder during the additive manufacturing processes has been a matter of debate by several research groups and industry worldwide. If not significantly different from the feedstock, the recycled powder can be reused many times without a detrimental impact on the mechanical properties of the final printed parts, which reduces the metallic powder waste and printing time. A detailed characterization and comparison of the feedstock and recycled powders is essential in order to understand the number of times a powder can be recycled. The recycled powders were sampled after 10 times reuse in the Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) process in the 3D printer. In this paper, we have performed a detailed characterization on morphology, microstructure, and the surface and bulk composition of virgin feedstock and recycled stainless steel 316 L powders (over 10 times reused), and correlated these measurements to topography, nanoindentation and hardness tests. We have also performed rarely reported synchrotron surface characterization of both powder sets in order to measure the level of oxidation of the individual metallic elements present in the virgin and recycled steel powder and the way such chemical composition changes following use in the manufacturing process. The results show more satellite and bonded particles in the recycled powder although the particle size is not broadly impacted. The atomic force microscopy results showed a smaller roughness on recycled powders measured on surfaces without satellites which might be due to less surface dendrites on recycled powder surface. Finally, a higher hardness was measured for the recycled powder resulted from the manufacturing process on grains and chemical composition. The results suggest no significant changes on the mechanical properties of the printed parts depending for a certain number of reusing cycles